Following is my most recent tasting note for the wine in question. Please post a link to the thread on the WLDG about the Brunello wines.

BestRogov

Campogiovanni, Brunello di Montalcino, 1990: Every bit as good as the now more-famous 1997 but surprisingly going on to show it will be the longest-lived wine from Campogiovanni to date. What can I say other than that this is now the eighth time I have tasted this wine and my earlier tasting notes hold firmly: Full bodied, remarkably deep and broad, with astonishing concentration but with true elegance, the wine opens slowly on the palate to reveal layer after layer of berries, black cherries and spices, all on a background of firm, almost biting but somehow not at all objectionable tannins. A wine to let open in the glass for those who enjoy their wines deeply tannic, to decant for those who prefer their wines somewhat on the “smoother” side, but at any rate a wine to cellar and thrive on now or until 2030. Score 96. (Re-tasted 30 Oct 2007)

This discussion and comparing notes has started a discussion of whether the tannins in this wine will resolve, or if the the other components of the wine will break up before first. This also inspires the general question of how does one tell if a firmly tannic wine will eventually resolve with time, or if it will just stay firm and then die. I'd like to ask your thoughts/opinions/feelings on the matter.

Thanks,Ryan

"The sun, with all those planets revolving about it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else to do"Galileo Galilei

(avatar: me next to the WIYN 3.5 meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory)

In the most general way, the future of any wine depends on its inherent balance and structure. A wine that is out of balance when it is young will not become more balanced as it develops. In fact, imbalance always becomes more pronounced with time. On the other hand, speaking to the specific issue, if a wine is even searingly tannic in its youth (as happens not infrequently with, e.g., the wines of Bordeaux and Chateauneuf-du-Pape) but both balance and structure are to be noted, this is not an imbalance as much as it is a youthful expression and, especially considering the region, the varieties and the vintage year, one can often make good predictions for that balance becoming more visible and more "acceptable".

You may have noted in not a few of my tasting notes that I sometimes write "destined always to be a muscular wine", but then again that sometimes with the additional comment that muscularity and elegance can often walk hand in hand.

When tasting I am usually a swirler – that is to say, forcibly swirling the wine in my mouth with the lips pressed together tightly. When it comes to wines about which I have to wonder about whether the tannins and other elements will eventually come together, I am also a swisher – that is to say, taking the wine into the mouth, volubly sucking in some air and only then pursing the lips in order to swirl.

Also to be considered when tasting a wine in its youth is the overall "track record" of that wine from previous and similar vintages as well as the history of the wines from that winery.

I sometimes like to joke that there are three major factors involved in responding to a question such as this: "balance, balance and balance". Perhaps a humorous way of saying it, but quite true.